


Saved

by Whimsy_Fox



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:09:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28915887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whimsy_Fox/pseuds/Whimsy_Fox
Summary: The character “Ozzie” belongs to @Punkiepop on Instagram and Twitter.I’m sorry it took me a year to get this done, I really hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Stuart "2D" Pot/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	Saved

A thick shroud of black clouds blanketed the sky, becoming denser the closer I got to Kong Studios. My attention and eyes flickered between the road and my phone I had hastily thrown onto the passenger seat. Anxiety fogged my mind, making it all the more difficult to concentrate on one thing at a time. My breathing felt constricted by the crushing weight on my chest. Desperate to give myself a moment of relief, I switched on the radio and fiddled with the channels until one played something besides deafening static. Despite the volume being rather high, their voices sounded distant; their words coming out as a muffled hum. It wasn’t until they switched to music that I was able to hear properly again. What were the odds that out of any song they could’ve played at this very moment it ended up being ‘Kids with Guns’. My hand reflexively reached over to turn it off, but the moment 2D’s voice sang out my heart was enveloped in a soothing warmth, and the world felt a little less chaotic. His somber voice injected a melancholic beauty to every word and note he sang, which possessed a near otherworldly ability to capture the attention from anyone who heard it.  
I’ve deliberated whether or not I should still listen to their music when I began to work with them, or if I should’ve continued pursuing the job after I discovered they were the ones hiring. All my life I’d heard the phrase “never meet your heroes”, and in that moment I feared their image could’ve been eventually ruined for me. Their music had saved me from my home life and myself more times than I cared to admit, and the thought of having that small piece of comfort and security taken away from me was terrifying. Words cannot describe how grateful I was to work with them, and how thankful I was that their music hadn’t been ruined for me. 

It wasn’t long before a bombardment of intruding thoughts soured the mood. No one from Gorillaz had been in contact with me for over a few years now. There had been no warnings or signs of them being displeased with my work performance, which only left me with numerous questions to fester in my mind. Then out of the blue this morning Murdoc texted me from an unknown number to immediately come to Kong Studios. In turn, it caused me to dwell on a nauseating memory in which 2D desperately pleaded for me to do an emergency cleaning shift after Murdoc had a weekend of vile partying at the studio. I can still smell it.  
While I was being consumed by my own thoughts, I failed to notice the strange black mist until it had completely encased my car. I stopped so suddenly that my forehead hit the steering wheel. Pushing through the pain and embarrassment, I examined the mist from within my car. It cascaded from the clouds above, moving around fluidly and quickly obscuring my ability to see anywhere around me. I couldn’t have been far from the studio at this point, but despite the countless times I’d travelled these twisting roads, I wasn’t confident enough to press onward with such poor visibility. I looked behind me, ready to reverse away from the mist and wait for it to dissipate. However, in just those few seconds of immobility, everything behind me had been swallowed by the mist. With no other options, I turned off my car to wait until things were safe to move. Forced to sit in dead silence revealed something to me that caused my skin to prickle with fear; there were hushed whispers coming from the mist. After locking all the doors, I squeezed my hands against my ears and closed my eyes, yet it was proven ineffective when the whispers persisted. They grew more intense, burrowing deep into my mind and slowly driving me mad. What the fuck was this? I couldn’t bare it for a second longer. I turned my key and switched on the radio, turning it up as loudly as I could. It took me a few tries until I was able to pick up something, and when I did I sighed in premature relief. The second after my fingers left the dial, the whispers began to play through the radio. Coming through the radio made some of the words more distinct, but even then it didn’t calm me. How was this happening? I gritted my teeth and decided to risk walking through it until I reached the end. Anything was better than sitting helplessly while my mind was being split in half by disembodied voices.  
As soon as my foot hit the ground, the mist ensnared me. Dazed, I futilely attempted to press onward but an overwhelming presence surrounded me. I was paralysed in fear. I could practically feel their breath against my back. When I finally mustered up what courage I had left, by the time I turned around no one was there. In that instant, the presence shifted behind me once more and the mist became suffocatingly dense. I fell to my knees, gasping for air as my hands desperately tried to grab hold of the mist as if it would help me breathe better. A whoosh of air stirred the mist around me, and when I turned two glowing red eyes lifelessly pierced daggers through me. 

My body weightlessly drifted through an inky abyss. Even when I opened my eyes, there was nothing but complete darkness. A salty sensation filled my eyes and nose, making the already difficult task of breathing impossible. My chest and lungs began to burn, droplets of water beginning to whip against my skin. From the bottom of the abyss, a mirage of dark water appeared. Needing to feel anything to reassure myself I wasn’t dead, I outstretched my hand to touch it. The moment my fingertips touched the water, the darkness around me dissipated. I smacked into the water, every inch of the front of my body stinging after the impact. My eyes opened while I was submerged in the murky depths, unable to determine which way the surface was. I thrashed around in the water, knowing I wouldn’t be able to hold my breath much longer. Even so, I was too discombobulated to make any sense of where I was. My chest strained as I forced myself to continue holding on, but it didn’t help for long. As my mouth became ajar in a desperate search for air, something tugged on my shirt and briskly lifted me out of the water. I gasped and coughed up the little water I had swallowed. Waves irritably crashed against the rock I was perched upon. I went to thank my rescuer and almost flipped back into the water when I saw a large manatee on top of the rocky formation. It grunted weakly, it’s skin sunburnt and cracked. Fishing nets were entangled around its flippers and neck. I slowly held out a hand and touched it. It was visibly distressed, but either unable or unwilling to fight back. I soothed it as I began to detangle it from its restraints.  
It wasn’t until I was able to remove a large piece of netting that I began to question where I was or how I got there. My answer came in the form of a cloaked man that leaned over me, obscuring me with his cape. He paid no attention to me, almost as if I wasn’t even there. His head was covered by an gas mask with a long deformed beak that limply flopped around. However it was the eyes that terrified me most about him; two bright red orbs that felt devoid of any humanity. His bony fingers prodded and pulled at the manatee’s skin, inspecting it carefully with a sickening hunger in every move. Being in his presence, I sensed he was not of this world and had malice intent with bringing me here.  
I heard large breaks through the surface of the water. I tried to peak at what was going on, but his arms blocked me from being able to. I feared touching him. He reeked of blood and death. There were faint noises and voices that were oddly comforting to hear. The masked man lifted his head with sinister glee and stared down whatever was making the noise. He dug his fingers into my hair and violently pulled me to my feet. My vision blurred at the sight of a gun pointed directly at me. As my eyes focused their identities became clear; it was Murdoc, Noodle and 2D. Had I been this monster’s bargaining chip? Or was I going to be used as a human shield to cause further distress to them? Whichever it was, my life was in imminent danger.  
“Wait!” 2D’s voice pierced through all other noise. He lunged towards Noodle, who was in possession of the gun, and knocked their arm enough for their shot to miss. Noodle retaliated by smacking his nose with the butt of the gun, and Murdoc screamed at the pair of them as he cowered in the presence of my captor.  
“Shoot him! Shoot him before he leaves!” Noodle lifted the gun. She seemed different, cold and unfeeling as her hidden eyes determined the value of my life.  
“No! He has Ozzie! Y-you’ll shoot them too if you try!” 2D pushed himself onto his knees, grabbing the bridge of his nose as blood gushed from it.  
“Ozzie?! Who the fuck is that?!”  
“They cleaned kong studios almost every week! H-how don’t you—“ he kicked 2D down and latched onto Noodle arm, shaking her vigorously as he begged her to shoot. A shot rang out and the bullet pierced through my tricep. I fell down onto the manatee and yowled in pain. More shots went off and I hoped the man was dead, making the pain more bearable if he was; but all he got in the end was a few holes in his cape. Black clouds swirled overheard, and the black mist that had consumed me before I ended up here began to emit from under his clothes. He reached for me and I quickly rolled out of the way. Jagged edges tore my flesh before I was once again back in the water. This time I was able to resurface on my own, and I watched as the man grabbed onto the manatee and dragged it down with him. They disappeared in a plume of black mist, my heart aching for the manatee I had quickly grown attached to. 

I turned myself around, a current of water threaded through my bullet wound. The area was numb after the initial pain. A trail of blood followed me in the water, causing more concern for my safety. I pushed myself to swim towards the Gorillaz members despite fearing them for almost killing me, but knowing 2D was there washed away any anxieties I had. 2D crawled to the edge of the, presumably, submarine and held his hand out to me in the water. When I was close enough I tightly grabbed onto his arm and he helped pull me out of the water. Before we could say anything Murdoc was urgently rushing us down inside the submarine.  
“How did you miss him Noodle?!? He was right there!! And now his little accomplice is stuck with us!” He squeezed the bridge of his nose, pacing around until he was calm enough to talk again. “2D! Since you fucked up our shots they’re your responsibility until we figure out what to do with them. Get them out of my sight! They could still be working for....” he cut himself off and turned his attention away from us. It was strange seeing him in such a vulnerable state, but his aggression towards me was inexcusable regardless. How could he think I was working with that guy? What was even going on?  
Before more questions popped into my head, 2D ushered me away into a small room. The happiness I felt seeing him again after so long was indescribable. Maybe it was the near death experience that meddled with my usual anxiety and shyness, but the second we were alone I tightly wrapped my arms around him. Before I knew it, I began to cry. He wiped away a tear from my cheek and held me, his body shaking at my touch.  
“I can’t believe you’re here. I thought I’d never see you again.” He became choked up, holding me even tighter. “I really missed you.” Each strained word broke my heart. I couldn’t bring myself to talk. I wanted to sit in this moment, stay in his arms like this undisturbed for as long as we could. Somehow I had never felt safer than I did in that moment.  
A loud knock at the door shocked us apart. 2D nervously opened the door and peeked out.  
“I’m going to take care of some business, keep an eye on that chick or you’ll both be thrown out.”  
“N-no problem.” Murdoc snuck in a stern glare at me, as if warning me to not try anything. 2D slammed the door shut and locked it behind him, sliding down the door and bringing his knees to his chest. I stood up and awkwardly walked over to him, stiffly sliding down to sit next to him. We got along incredibly well when I worked for them, and my feelings turned from a small infatuation to an intense crush. When they disappeared, and murmurs of them being seen around the world and making a new album popped up online, I thought I’d never get to spend time with him again. Sometimes I would go out of my way to strike up a conversation with him and would worry I was overstepping; but there were even more times where he was the one to instigate so I took it as a sign that he enjoyed spending time with me also.  
2D lifted his hand and shrieked, gently grabbing my arm and closely inspected it. I had almost forgotten about my wound already. It had become completely numb which was probably not a good sign. Regardless, there was nothing I could do for it right now except stop the bleeding. Before I could even inquire about bandages or anything of the sort, 2D took off his shirt and wrapped my arm. He tied it too tightly, and it was a bit of a relief that I felt a sharp jab of pain as a result. He quickly readjusted it, making sure it was tight enough to be of use but not too tight that it cut off my circulation.  
“That should help a little. I-I’m sorry there isn’t more I can do...”  
“This is a lot of help considering the situation we’re in. Thank you.”  
“Are you cold?”  
“Now that my adrenaline has stopped I am getting fairly cold...” I felt like such a burden. He looked around and grabbed a scratchy blanket that was almost as thin as a sheet of paper. He wrapped it around me and moved his arm hesitantly. He put his arm around me and gently held me close to him.  
“Body heat is effective in keeping people warm right?” I nodded, all the cumulative heat in my body rushing to my cheeks. I had to be dreaming. 

Eventually I had to rest my head on him. I had been craning my neck for a while to avoid touching him more than I already was; out of both respect and embarrassment. When I did, my head was perfectly placed over his heart. His heartbeat was faster than normal, and when I moved my hand and accidentally brushed it against his arm, the rate spiked for a brief moment.  
“Ozzie... how did you get out here?” I naively hoped I wouldn’t be asked, but it was bound to come up at some point.  
“I don’t know. That guy who... well I got a message from Murdoc asking me to come over and of course I went, but when I got there everything was covered in this thick dark mist. When it covered me I woke up when I fell into the water. Not long after you guys showed up. It doesn’t sound believable, but it’s what happened. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more.”  
“It doesn’t make sense... why would he go after you?”  
“What?”  
“N-Nothing!” He turned his face away from me. It was painfully obvious they were being stalked — hunted even — by that man. Now that I was involved I wanted, needed even, to know everything. Who was he? Where had they gone? Where was Russel? What happened to him? So many questions made sitting in silence unbearable. I needed a distraction, anything to keep my mind occupied. I couldn’t shake the feeling of death looming all around us, what was there to lose?  
I raised my head and planted a kiss on his cheek, quickly retreating back under the blanket.  
“You practically saved my life back there. I felt I needed to thank you properly for that.” I closed my eyes and felt his heart racing just as quickly as mine. Suddenly, he put both arms around me, burying his face into my shoulder.  
“Seeing you saved my life. I don’t know what I’d do without you Ozzie. I- I should’ve said this before but I was too afraid. Ozzie, I-“ Frantic pounding on the door made the pair of us jump. I fell forward, my face pressed against his bare chest. I quickly pulled away, his face a bright red. I stammered out an apology as he got up and unlocked the door. The second the lock clicked the door was flung open roughly enough to come loose from its hinges.  
“Get up! We’re here- WHAT THE FUCK IS GOIN’ ON?!” The scene Murdoc had walked into sent him on a rampage. “I LEAVE YOU ALONE AND YOU TRY TO FUCK THE HELP?! ARE YOU WORKING WITH HIM?! YOU SET ME UP AND IN RETURN YOU GET SOME PIECE OF ASS TO JOIN YOU AND LEECH OFF OF ALL OF MY HARD WORK?!” We scrambled to our feet. I dropped the blanket and clutched my arm, stepping forward to defend 2D before things were blown further out of proportion.  
“Murdoc! I was fucking shot and wet. He was just trying to help me not bleed out or freeze to death!” He grumbled under his breath, thankfully believing me. I was tired of being left in the dark, whatever was going on was serious enough for Murdoc to be so frantic.  
“Who or what the hell was that? Why did he bring me here? Why are you so afraid of him?” Murdoc gritted his teeth, his eyes almost bulging out of his head.  
He relented, reluctantly giving me the bare amount of information. “He’s out to get me. Now get movin’, we’re at Plastic Beach.”

2D put his hands around my waist and helped me climb out of the submarine. When I stepped out I was in awe of what I saw. A giant pink island floated in front of us. An extravagant house was precariously built atop an unnatural looking plateau. Just before we made it onto land, a dark figure stepped forward onto the edge of the house’s roof. My blood ran cold as the masked man towered above us. Murdoc grabbed Noodle and stormed the building, an epic showdown about to begin. Countless other submarines joined ours, people climbing out and hopping onto the island in support of Murdoc. 2D went to join them, but I grabbed his arm. I couldn’t let him get anywhere near whatever danger that man would bring.  
“Let’s go.”  
“What?”  
“Let’s leave this place! Take the submarine and get back to mainland. Murdoc has put you through hell enough, you don’t need to involve yourself anymore.”  
“But I can’t just leave him. He’s done so much for me, and I’ve come so far. I can’t, he needs me.” I stepped forward and cupped his face, affectionately stroking his cheek with my thumb.  
“I can’t let you leave and get hurt all because of some bullshit Murdoc brought upon himself. I need you too.” He grabbed my wrist, taking a final glance at the island before climbing back inside the sub. He held out his arms and helped me back inside, closing the hatch behind us.  
“Do you know how to work this thing?”  
“Not really... Murdoc and Noodle usually drove it.” I look around, seeing that some of its controls looked near identical to a car. I began to fiddle with things while 2D sombrely looked out of one of the windows back at the island. Suddenly he backed away from the windows, bumping into the back of my chair.  
“What’s wrong?” I looked out the window. Black clouds had gathered overhead, planes descending from the depths and opening fire on everything below them. 2D jumped in the chair and immediately began to move the sub. “I thought you didn’t know how to use it!”  
“We don’t have much of a choice now.” I stumbled around as we roughly descended below the surface, shooting off at a high speed in the process. I locked my arms around the back of his chair, eventually getting my legs around the base. I squeezed my eyes shut so tightly strange illuminations exploded like fireworks behind my eyelids. 

Away from imminent danger, 2D slowed us down and put the sub onto some type of ‘cruising’ mode that allowed us to keep moving without anyone having to drive it. We didn’t know where we were headed but we figured we’d run into something sooner or later. With time to finally breathe, I laid down on the floor, a couple of tears rolling down the side of my face.  
“Ozzie? What’s wrong?” I wiped my eyes and sat up, writhing my hands together.  
“I just... I almost died today. Murdoc and Noodle they... they were fine with killing me if it meant they got to shoot that fucking monster.” He sat down beside me, worriedly eyeing my arm.  
“If it helps, that wasn’t really Noodle back there. She—“ he got too choked up to continue, and with that it dawned on me that the real Noodle was probably dead. “Anyways, Murdoc went looking for her and found some of her DNA. He created that cyborg using her DNA and made it his personal bodyguard. The real Noodle adored you, she would’ve been horrified about what Murdoc did.” Strangely, it did help me in a way. I had grown attached to Noodle, sort of like she was my little sister. Watching what looked like her point a gun at me had affected me deeply. But even if that part of my distress was taken care of, being held as a human shield and seeing Murdoc disregard my life entirely was still a haunting experience.  
I tried to take my mind off the morning by concentrating on the present. I was alone with 2D for an indeterminate amount of time. I had already thrown so much caution to the wind that it would be dumb of me to not go the whole way and fess up. We weren’t exactly out of danger yet, if we ran out of fuel we were fucked. I had nothing to lose.  
“Hey uh... just in case we end up dying in this hunk of junk I... I want to maybe tell you something, if that’s okay?” I felt like an idiot. How did it come out so poorly?  
“Of course.” No turning back now.  
“Well, I did know of you guys before I met you. I’ve always wanted to say it but didn’t want to make things awkward but your music really saved me. I didn’t have a lot of happy memories back at home, and when things were really bad your music never failed to help me get through it all. Just, thank you for your music.” There was a few moments of silence before I dared to even look at him. My heart was racing uncontrollably, there was more I wanted to say to him but why should I live the last few hours or days of my life reeling from rejection? As I began to get cold feet about the whole thing, 2D put his hand over mine. I froze. I looked up at him, his face inches away from mine. I had never noticed before how beautiful his eyes were; two pools of liquified onyx with flecks of light swirling hypnotically throughout, hints of the deepest shade of red only amplifying the beauty of them.  
He brushed some hair out of my face and smiled, his cheeks turning bright red. “If I die in here, I wouldn’t want to spend my last moments alive any other way.”  
“In a shark shaped submarine?” Why did I say that?  
He chuckled, nervously caressing the side of my face and tilting my head up from under my chin. “I meant spending it with you.” This had to be a dream. Maybe I had died when I fell into the water or when I got shot and this was some type of dying hallucination. My chest was tight and my breathing grew heavy.  
“W-well, I’m here. How do you want to spend this time with me?” I boldly asked flirtatiously. At this point I had no reason to doubt myself or hold back. He all but confessed his feelings about me directly. Minus the whole potentially dying aspect, this was a dream come true.  
His usual awkward meek demeanour was slowly being stripped away and replaced by a confident one. “Can you call me Stu from now on? I don’t want you using that nickname for me anymore.”  
“Of course.” I was a little disappointed that that was his response, but he leaned down and gently kissed my lips, making up for the lacklustre reply. He pulled away, his eyes wide and twinkling with excitement.  
“I’ve wanted to do that since the day I met you.”  
“I— I— I like you Stu, like in a romantic way and I have for a while now I just couldn’t say it.”  
“I like you in a romantic way too Ozzie, c-could I kiss you again?” I nodded. He leaned down and kissed me again, pressing harder against my lips this time. I kissed him back, reaching over and draping my arms around his neck. 

The kissing gradually intensified. Stu put a hand on the back of my head. I slipped in a bit of tongue as I craved more of him. He stopped for a second and I wondered if I had gone too far, but he only stopped to lift me onto his lap. We kissed harder, more passionately with each second. I grabbed a handful of his hair and pushed my mouth harder onto his. His mouth lingered over mine before slowly moving down to the side of my neck. A mix of kisses and light biting caused an involuntary moan to escape from me. I put my hand over my mouth and he stopped and looked at me in surprise. I felt something suddenly shift in his pants and poke me. He became flustered and began kissing my neck again as if to distract me from it, but I had already taken notice and I couldn’t help but smile and blush.  
I grabbed his wrist and guided his hand to my breasts. He didn’t waste a second of it. Squeezing and messaging it I felt my breath growing hotter. His hands moved underneath my shirt, his cock becoming larger and harder, pressing firmly onto my ass. His eyes were fixated on my body. Though my hands began to shake, I took off my shirt and undid the clasp of my bra. I put my head on his chest and felt insecurities creeping up on me. I couldn’t bring myself to completely expose my body to the man I had liked and admired for so long.  
“Do you want to stop? I don’t want you to feel forced into doing anything.” He panted between words, putting his arms around me in a comforting hug.  
“N-no! I just... well I’ve never... uhm.. you know...” It took a little for it to register what I meant for him, but when it did he blushed more than before and looked down my body.  
“O-oh, this is your first time?” I nodded, so embarrassed that I couldn’t show my face to him. “If you still want to do this with me, I can take it slow.” My body trembled. I worked up the courage and looked into his eyes, nervously smiling as I played with my hair.  
“Please.” That one word awoke something inside of him. He took off my bra and picked me up, pushing me down onto my back. He roughly kissed me, his hand moving down and grabbing my breast. He used his index finger to gently rub my nipple in slow circular motions. His tongue intertwined with mine, drawing out muffled moans of pleasure. He moved his head away, a string of spit connected from our mouths which caused us both to giggle. He held down one of my wrists above my head as he ran his tongue down my neck and over my chest. He circled my nipple a couple of times with his tongue before placing his mouth over my breast. The pleasure surged from my chest to my crotch. I squirmed around, reaching down to pleasure myself but was stopped by Stu. He raised both hand above my head, gently biting my nipple. I squeaked in surprise.  
“Did I hurt you?”  
“No no! It felt really good.”  
“You ready for more?” He smirked, caressing my face while he looked at me in total admiration.  
“Actually,” I stood up, pulling Stu to his feet. My heart was racing uncontrollably. My palms were sweating, but my mouth began to water. My hands hovered over the top of his pants. I slowly undid them and pulled them down along with his underwear. His erect cock sprung out into my face. My face was burning hot, and I felt my vagina twitch excitedly. His dick was thinner than I expected, it was hard to tell how long it was as it was slightly curved upwards. I looked up at him, his breathing was heavy and his hands moved to the back of my head. Seeing him so worked up made me feel confident about myself, and even a little bit playful now. I was feeling less scared and pressured about having sex with him now. All I wanted to do was make him feel as good as he was making me feel. I put my hand around it and it twitched. I involuntarily giggled as I felt it in my hand.  
“I-I know it’s not that big but—“ I began to move my hand up and down the shaft, curiously sucking the tip. I looked up at him, his face twisting in pleasure. My heart raced and a warm joy swelled in my stomach. I pressed my lips tightly around it and moved my head down. It became hard to breathe. The taste and smell was strange, something I should’ve hated but couldn’t get enough of. Stu began to moan. They were low and shaky, his hands gripping the back of my head tighter.  
“Wait” I moved my head back, his cock popping up from out of my mouth. He sat on the ground with his back against the wall, legs spread open welcoming me back. I crawled over, going on my knees and began to tease the head of his cock with one hand while firmly stroking the shaft with the other hand. Pre-cum wept from the tip, sticking to my fingers as I continued to jerk him. I moved my hair behind me ear and put my mouth over it again, sucking in hard and rubbing my tongue against it. I pushed down as far as I could go, hitting my uvula and gagging slightly. As i deep throated him, I looked up and saw him looking down through his fingers. He was moaning even louder now, hiding behind his hands as his body grew hotter. I slowly pulled away, giving me a moment to breathe.  
“The face you’re making is so hot, please show me all of it.”  
“O-Ozzie I—“ he craned his neck forward and kissed me roughly, our kisses occasionally interrupted as he breathily moaned. I felt his dick expand and throb in my hand. He kissed me harder, panting more until he fall back against the wall and began to climax. Warm semen squirted out onto my bare chest, dripping down my body as Stu groaned and twitched. I bent down, kissing the tip and delicately sucking it. I licked my lips and shivered at the taste of his cum. 

“Fu....fu..ck.. h-heh,” he lifted my head and kissed me again, his mouth watering and his breath hot. “I-I can’t believe I’m getting to do this with you. I really thought I’d never see you again and never be able to tell you how I felt.” He kissed me again, taking my breath away as he slid a hand down the front of my pants. He slowly rubbed my clit with his finger, leaning into the kiss more as he began to move faster. His hand wandered further down, teasing the opening to my vagina. He slipped a finger inside while continuing to massage my clit. I inhaled sharply, falling onto him and hiding my face. My stomach felt strange and my hips began to move.  
“You’re so wet. Did you really get this turned on already?”  
“Sh-shut up.” Besides a few initial hesitations and concerns, we acted so naturally with one another as if we had done this type of stuff dozens of times prior. Feeling the chemistry between us made me overjoyed. All this time, we had felt so strongly for the other but neither of us was prepared to make that step; I wondered how things would’ve turned out if I had confessed long before all of this went down.  
He spun around and pushed me against the wall, kissing me once more before moving onto my pants. He struggled to take them off due to the fact they were still damp. We couldn’t help but laugh again as he finally managed to get them down past my feet. He grabbed the top of my underwear, his dick beginning to become erect again. He looked at me, studying my face and letting go of my underwear. He sat back, and it felt surreal seeing his entire body naked in front of me.  
“I thought I’d ask again but, are you still okay? If you want to stop here we can.” I didn’t know if I still seemed nervous or he was being incredibly considerate. Maybe he had nerves of his own considering the last time he got romantically invested into someone. If we stopped here, would that stop all momentum we had? I knew I didn’t want to stop, I was pathetically desperate to have him push his cock inside of me. My words mightn’t be convincing enough on their own, so I decided the show him through action instead.  
I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes, taking off my underwear and throwing it aside. I quickly followed that up by spreading my legs apart, exposing my body in its entirety for his viewing. “I want you.” He looked at me like he was staring in awe at a piece of art. I prompted him further by using my fingers to spread open my vagina for him, covering my mouth with my other hand as my lips quivered. He was almost fully erect again. He moved close to me, grabbing his cock and rubbing it over my clit. He rested his forehead on mine, hungrily staring down.  
“Okay I’m going to put it in now. If you need me to stop say so, okay?” I nodded, equally as eagerly for this moment to begin. He sucked a few of his fingers, pushing them inside of me. Seeming satisfied, he lined himself up and carefully began to push it into me.  
“F-fuck! Ah—~” I made noises I didn’t think I could. It was a mix of pleasure and pain. I had always been told how painful my first time would be during my adolescence, a factor that kept me from doing anything sexual. However, though it was tight and felt like a pole was being inserted into me at first, when he was fully inside me we sat in the moment. As the pain subsided, I thrusted my hips. A build up of fluid made me think I was about to pee, but when Stu began to move his hips in time with mine, I felt a rush of ecstasy sweep over my body. I clung to him tightly, ejaculating over his cock as it continued to penetrate me. Nothing had ever felt even remotely as good as that did. Years of yearning, excitement and waiting all came flooding out in that moment. It was convenient timing as it helped take away most of the lingering pain. My body twitched and my vagina became incredibly sensitive, but he didn’t show signs of slowing. 

Stu moaned my name under his breath, moving me closer as his thrusting turned more aggressive. He pressed his hands on the wall either side of my head, fucking me harder and faster. My back was being shoved repeatedly against the wall. My insides felt like they were going to be pulled out each time he brought his cock outwards. My mind was going blank, all I could think about was how much pleasure I felt. No wonder some people became addicted to sex; this feeling was immeasurable.  
Our moans and voices were being reverberated off the submarine’s interior walls. It was embarrassing to hear the sounds I was making. Stu bite onto my breast, sucking and biting it methodically. I arched my back and moaned so loudly that it sounded like screams. My body was preparing to come again. Just as I climaxed I felt the air from my lungs being sucked out. Liquid squirted out, spraying Stu’s legs and pooling beneath me.  
“FUCK! FUCK! AH, OH FUCK!” were the only words I managed to say. Stu dug his fingers into my back, pushing inside of my further and moving faster than ever.  
“F-F-AH-CK! AH... AH... O-O” he tugged on my hair violently as he released a thick load of cum inside of me. He collapsed on top of me, and he laid on the ground sweating and heaving. I propped myself up onto my elbows, sloppily kissing Stu’s mouth before laying back down. He squeezed the base of his cock to the tip, a small dribble of cum drizzling over my thigh. He got up, his legs twitching as he walked. I pulled out the blanket he had given to me earlier and laid down next to me, putting it on top of us.  
“You should go to the bathroom soon. It’s important for you to pee after sex I think.”  
“Oh, thanks for letting me know.” I reluctantly stood up, my knees buckled under me. My vagina was inflamed and throbbed intensely. Each step caused a bolt of pleasure to shoot up my body. I could feel stuff leaking out of me and running down my leg. I used the bathroom as quickly as I could so I could rejoin Stu as soon as possible. When I returned, I cuddled up beside him. He intertwined our fingers together and moved closer to me. I rested my head on his shoulder, and closed my eyes to savour the moment. 

“Did you enjoy it?” He asked shyly. I drew circles on his stomach with my finger, unable to wipe the smile from my face.  
“I really did, but it didn’t last as long as I expected.”  
“S-sorry, I kinda thought of doing this with you for so long that I got a little excited.”  
“Hey, you’re fine. I mean I think I almost came from just you kissing me and touching my boobs. Besides, I can’t really compare this to anything else so to me that was perfect sex.” I needed to learn to stop talking so much, but when I was on a high like this I couldn’t help but gush over everything good that happened to me.  
“Now I know for next time to do more of that for you.” Next time. He said next time. It could’ve been an off handed joke, and even after everything was said and done, I wasn’t certain whether or not this was as far as our relationship would go. He turned onto his side, caressing my cheek with the back of his hand. Was this the right time to ask questions? Or should I just enjoy this while it lasted.  
That was the moment I remembered that we could die in here. The inciting incident that caused me to push aside my better judgments. I felt a pain in my chest, tears threatening to well up in my eyes. I took one look at Stu’s content face and, somehow, I felt that things might be okay.  
With so many thoughts already flooding back to my mind, I reached down beneath the blanket and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly to ward off my fears. He must’ve noticed that I was beginning to fall apart. He wrapped me up in a loving embrace and kissed my head.  
“What’s your favourite Gorillaz song?”  
“Huh?”  
“I’m curious.”  
“Well I really love Feel Good Inc. and Kids with Guns, but I love all of your songs.” He smiled and began to hum a vaguely familiar tune. He began to quietly sing a slightly altered version of Feel Good Inc. to me. I held him tighter, unable to stop tears from coming. This man had brought so much joy into my life long before he even knew me, and now he was personally performing a song he’s probably tired of singing by now just to comfort me. I pinched my skin, sceptical still that I wasn’t dreaming, but with the burning sting of my skin as I removed my fingernails, it was undeniable that this was real.  
As he finished the song, he rested his forehead against mine. He closed his eyes and squeezed my hand. His grip loosened as he drifted off to sleep, and I quickly followed.

—————

The submarine shook us awake. Something in the water was almost rocking it out of control. Stu stood up and stared out the window, looking at the dashboard for answers. I stood up and joined him, so terrified that I didn’t care that I was still naked. A large shadow loomed over us, blocking out the little light we received from the sun. I grabbed onto Stu’s forearm, staring out the window picturing a large shark charging at us at any second. Something large and dark shifted around us, making contact and tipping us sideways. I crashed down to the wall, landing on my injured arm. I yelled in pain, looking over and saw fresh blood beginning to seep through. Stu managed to hold onto the chair to keep himself from falling. Something clamped down on the sub, blocking our view out the window. We were turned the right way up, and I quickly ran to Stu, holding onto him tightly fearing for our lives. Everything felt weightless, like we were no longer under water, which was quickly confirmed. The thing blocking the window turned out to be a giant finger. The sun blinded us, flooding the interior with his golden rays. Once my eyes adjusted, I almost fell backwards when I saw a giant eye staring at us.  
“Is that you 2D?”  
“Russel?” He went to the hatch and excitedly climbed out. I went to join him when I thankfully reminded myself that I wasn’t wearing clothes. I grabbed the blanket and tied it around me. I struggled to get out due to my arm, but Stu helped me out the rest of the way. I was dumbfounded to see it was indeed Russel. He had to be a hundred feet tall, but it didn’t even come close to being the most terrifying encounter of the day.  
Russel usually kept to himself whenever I was working, but whenever I sat down to have a short break he would join me and strike up a conversation. He was incredibly charismatic and funny, he had made me laugh so hard one time I choked on my water and had some come out my nose. It was mortifying, but made Russel laugh the hardest I’d ever seen him laugh. I really enjoyed our little hang outs and was always a bit sad whenever I didn’t get to see him. Well, I was seeing plenty of him now.  
He turned his attention to me and raised an eyebrow, looking between the two of us and chuckling. His laugh vibrated the submarine.  
“So you finally made your move on Ozzie huh 2D? Man you couldn’t even put your pants back on before you greeted us?” Stu yelped and quickly went back inside. “How’s it going Oz? Long time no see.”  
“What did you mean when you said ‘us’ just now?” I yelled. He reached to the back of his neck, he brought his hand down to the sub and opened it to reveal a girl in a strange mask. She jumped onto the exterior and ran up to me, hugging me tightly. She lifted the mask and smiled.  
“Noodle!” I hugged her, beginning to cry out of joy. “I thought you might’ve been dead I’m so glad you’re okay!”  
“Me? Dead? Hah! It would take more than an explosion to kill me.”  
“Explosion?”  
“Noods?” She ran to him and jumped into his arms. He spun around with her but lost his footing and fell. “I thought you were dead! You look so different I-I can’t believe it!”  
“Woah, you look like shit. What the hell happened? Who did this to you?” She grabbed his face and looked at his bruises, and he quickly pushed her away.  
“Not now...” 

I quickly jumped on an excuse to change the subject. Stu had just begun to feel relaxed and happy, I didn’t want him thinking about his pain right now. He deserved more time to escape from it until we got back to England somehow.  
“What were you guys doing out in the middle of the ocean anyway?”  
“Was headed to Plastic Beach to find Murdoc.”  
“It’s pretty bad over there. It was like a war zone when we left, you shouldn’t go there Murdoc can handle himself.”  
“Sounds like I should go there.”  
“Me too.” Noodle stood up, her demeanour shifted. She jumped onto Russel’s arm and climbed up to his shoulder, kicking her legs in the air. Russel clicked his tongue and put the sub back into the water, grabbing Noodle and placing her on it with us.  
“I’ll go. You’ve been through enough kid. You know how to get to England from here?”  
“I’ll figure out a way.” She was visibly displeased with him, folding her arms and putting her mask back on. He nodded his head and ripped a piece of his sleeve. Holding it above my head and dropping it.  
“Patch up your arm, I can see the blood dripping from here. Take care you three, I’ll see you soon.” He walked past and dove into the water, and within seconds he was out of sight. Stu came up behind me and held my arm, removing his shirt and tying it with Russel’s.  
“We should get going before we run out of fuel floating out here.” Noodle walked ahead, jumping inside and taking place in the captain’s chair. Stu helped lower me in before he entered, locking the hatch behind him. She rummaged around and easily figured out how to use it. We began to move again at a much faster pace than before.  
“Do you need any help?”  
“No, I can manage. You two can go do whatever it was you were doing before Russel and I interrupted.” She gestured towards our scattered clothes. We both began stammering and coming up with poor excuses while she let out a small huff of laughter. We picked everything up and hurried to the small room we had been in before.  
“That was unexpected. I wonder what else we’re going to end up seeing today.”  
“I can’t believe I was naked in front of them.” He was covering his face with his underwear, slouched against the door.  
“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think Noodle saw.” He puffed out his cheeks, dramatically flopping onto the tiny bed. 

I managed to squeeze in next to him. I felt nervous being so close to him with someone else in the other room, but while I was going back and forth with myself he put his arms under mine and buried his face into my chest. I moved away to unwrap the blanket and put it over the top of both of us. He blushed, delicately placing his head back on my chest. I ran my fingers through his hair, entwining my legs with his. I felt something prod my thigh, I looked under the sheet and saw a large bulge being constricted by his pants.  
“Huh, you eager for more already?” I teased, kissing the side of his neck. My lips made his skin prickle and he slowly rubbed his erection against my inner thigh. My vagina tingled at his movements, and my heart was beating wildly in my chest. His hand shifted, running down my stomach and massaged my inner thigh. My nipples became rock hard, and I felt my chest tighten as I grew excited.  
“H-hold on. What about Noodle?”  
“If we are quiet she’ll never know.”  
“This is my second time and you heard how loud I was the first time!”  
“I’ll help you stay quiet” he said it so sweetly that I felt butterflies flutter inside my stomach.  
“Okay” I replied sheepishly. The area constricted us a lot more in this tiny room, but considering how easy it was for him to arouse me I didn’t think it’d be much of a problem in the end. He went under the sheet and flicked my nipple with his tongue. He teased me more by gently pinching my clit. It was almost like he wanted me to make noise. He moved down further, trailing his tongue down the length of my body. I covered my mouth with my hands as I inevitably began to make noises. He put his hands on either one of my thighs as his tongue explored every inch of my vagina. He inserted his tongue inside of me and moved it around. The feeling was electric. My toes curled as he rubbed my clit with his thumb, flicking his tongue against the tip of it before covering it all with his mouth. As he ate my mouth my back arched involuntarily. I bit down on my lip to prevent myself from moaning too loudly. Without warning he put two fingers inside of me, roughly fingering me while continuing to suck my clit.  
“A-AH! AA—HA STU—“ acting fast, he used his other hand to cover my mouth. I moaned into his hand, unable to contain my voice. Seeing as I miserably failed at being quiet, Stu moved back up the bed and began to kiss me. His stuffed his tongue in my mouth, making it impossible for me to make noise. He rubbed his dick against the outside of my vagina like he had before. After a few seconds he lined himself up and roughly thrusted in, knocking all my breath out of me. He kissed me harder as he began to fuck me, slamming his crotch against mine. His balls slapped my ass making me crave even more of him inside me. I wrapped my legs around him and pushed him down. When he was all the way in I only tightened my hold. His large rough movements were forced to change to short fast ones. He hit me deeper inside this way, melting my body into a helpless puddle of pleasure. I wanted to moan and scream, but his tongue continued to silence me. The frustration of not being able to moan only made things feel better. He was like an entirely different person from earlier.  
He got out of the bed and got me to my feet.  
“Could you lay face down on the bed?” I obeyed without question, I just wanted him to keep fucking me. He rubbed my asshole, spitting on it and putting a finger inside. I yelped, and he pushed my head down into the blanket. He put his cock inside of me again and began to pull it out again only to slam it all the way back in again. He fingered my asshole as he dominated my pussy. My knees felt weak and I moaned into the blanket, biting down on it when the pleasure was too intense to bare. A build up of fluids came gushing out of me, and I let out a loud yell as I orgasmed. Stu picked me up and put a hand over my mouth, shushing me in my ear. He pushed me against the door, putting one of my legs over his forearm. I felt completely exposed, which surprisingly turned me on. As his cock moved in and out, I felt my ejaculate dripping down my thigh. He braced himself against the door, panting loudly in my ear. His hot breath sent shivers down my back, and I clenched my pussy tightly. He involuntarily moaned allowed, gently biting down onto my shoulder as he attempted to suppress his own voice. His cock became engorged, and I knew he was about to cum. I squeezed tighter on his cock, gleefully moaning as he writhed around.  
“Hah... hah ah.... fu... g-gonna cum..” he pushed himself in as far as he could, pushing my shoulders down as he ejaculated deep inside of me. He quickly kissed me as we moaned into each other’s mouths. He stepped back to remove it from me, kissing me sweetly as my body strained to keep me upright. My vagina was throbbing intensely. I rubbed my clit, thinking about how he came inside of me, and quickly made myself cum. He knelt to the ground and lifted my leg again, putting his mouth over my vagina and sensually sucked as he penetrated me with his tongue. I rubbed my clit, my chest tightening as I felt myself already climaxing again.  
“AAH~!” I came over his face, my face burning. Noodle definitely would’ve heard that one. I wrapped the blanket around me and snuck out to the bathroom to clean myself up. As I tiptoed back, Noodle spun around in her chair.  
“Can you guys keep it down? I’m happy for you two getting together after being painfully obvious about liking one another for so long, but I can’t stomach hearing that stuff going on.”  
“S-sorry!” She spun back around and I rushed back into the room, slamming the door and hid under the blanket.  
“Ozzie?” He lifted a corner of the blanket and concealed his laughter at the sight of my bright red face.  
“I can never face Noodle again.” 

Since we were no longer alone, it was necessary that I got redressed. Stu did the same, but remained shirtless as his only shirt was currently soaked with my blood. He came about behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissed my cheek.  
“What was that for?” Not that I was complaining. He exhaled and rested his chin on my shoulder.  
“I haven’t felt this happy in a long time.” He kissed my neck sensually and squeezed me, sighing heavily. “Ozzie, I wanna ask you something.” I turned around to face him, all the while he kept his arms wrapped around me.  
“What is it?”  
“I’ve already mentioned that I liked you since the day I met you, but I wasn’t being completely honest.” He shifted his weight nervously, unable to look directly at me. “See, there was this one day while we were talking I made you laugh. Your face lit up, your smile was the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen. During that moment though I realised something, and I’d been too afraid to admit it even to myself until now.” My heart was pounding. I think my hands and legs were beginning to shake as I held my breath anxiously awaiting for him to finish between pauses. “That day I realised I was in love with you. I-I got scared about how strong my feelings were. The last person I loved broke me, and I was afraid it would happen again. I stuffed those feelings deep inside and tried to ignore them, but seeing you this morning it all came flooding back at once. I never want to let go of you again.” My mind buzzed, swells of joy and love filled my body and mind and came bursting out immediately after.  
“I fell in love with you too. I had always had a tiny crush on you before I even met you, but spending time with you and just getting to know you... I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about someone before. B-But I couldn’t say anything; you’re a celebrity and I was your house cleaner. God, s-sorry I’m feeling a bit flustered.” He kissed my lips and I melted into his arms.  
“I haven’t even asked you what I wanted to yet.”  
“Sorry! Uhm go ahead, sorry-“ I was a mess, but he seemed to enjoy watching me in such an embarrassed state.  
“Ozzie, could I be your boyfriend?” YES! YES! YES!  
“YES!” If I we had died right after that moment, I would’ve been content. This was the best moment of my life, everything paled in comparison.  
“Gross guys! I asked you to keep it down!” Noodle yelled irritably. We opened the door and left the room, my smile so wide that my cheeks began to hurt.  
“Sorry Noodle we didn’t mean to disturb you it’s just-“  
“We’re dating now!” Stu chirped happily, his eyes flashing white for a brief moment. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, or that maybe it was something to do with the lighting. I brushed it off for the time being.  
Noodle jumped to her feet and smiled, opening her arms up wide and hugging us both. “Congrats you two! So which one of you had the guts to make the first move anyway?”  
“I-It was kind of mutual, but Stu was the one to ask me out just now.” She nudged him with her elbow and smirked.  
“Looks like you’ve changed a bit since the last time I saw you. I like this more confident 2D.”  
“Stop teasing me Noods.”  
“It was a compliment!”  
“Oh! Then thank you!” They hugged. Time slowed down as I watched them. It was like seeing my true family come together for the first time. The happiness was overwhelming that I quietly cried into my sleeve, not wanting to ruin this moment.  
“Enough sappy stuff! If I figured out the correct coordinates, we should be entering UK waters soon. If we want to return to normalcy it’d be better if we avoided any detection.”  
“Oh,” Stu’s face dropped. “I didn’t think I’d ever get to live in England again. I have no where to stay.”  
“What about Kong Studios? Aren’t you going back there?”  
“You haven’t heard?” Even I didn’t know what he was talking about. Noodle shook her head, putting her hands on her hips. “Murdoc burnt it down. That’s why he set up that whole ‘new Gorillaz HQ’ on that plastic beach place.”  
“Oh..” I couldn’t stand seeing them like this.  
“You guys could stay with me. Until you find somewhere else, it’s not very big though.”  
“Really?” Stu’s eyes glistened, and Noodle shoulders relaxed.  
“Yes, really! When I first moved here you guys gave me a job when I was desperate. I didn’t have to move back home thanks to you. Think of it as a repayment for that.”  
“What have you been doing since we’ve been gone?”  
“When you guys stopped contacting me I just assumed I was fired and got a full time job at a local animal rescue.”  
“If you’re really okay with it, then I guess we can move in as soon as we make it back to England. We don’t have any belongings to move in either.” Stu grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers through mine and smiled at me, giving me a sweet short peck on the lips.  
“I can’t wait.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Noodle devoured her lunch at an alarming speed. I wondered if she could even taste any of the food she was eating. She got out of her seat and put the dishes in the sink, racing to the door before stopping to say goodbye.  
“Okay, I’m leaving. I’ll see you guys later.”  
“Did you back your phone and charger?”  
She rolled her eyes, taking off her backpack and fishing them out.  
“Did you need some money for food?”  
“No, I’ll be fine. Bye mu-motherfucker, bye 2D.” She ran out the door and slammed it behind her.  
“Did she just call me motherfucker to cover up almost calling me mom?” Stu snickered, kissing my forehead and grabbed our dishes to wash them.  
“Remember when she called me a douchebag to cover for calling me dad in front of Russ?” It was endearing when Noodle slipped up like that. We had all grown incredibly close over the past eight months and developed a strong familial bond. The shared trauma helped accelerate that process, but having each other definitely helped with healing from it. Stu began therapy a month ago and ever since he’d been thriving, his eyes even changed to a pure white. I got up and put the electric kettle on, grabbing out a couple of mugs.  
“Need a hand?”  
“I’m good hon, I’ll be there in a minute. Go pick a movie in the meantime.” 

I joined him on the lounge and he covered me with a thick fuzzy blanket. I handed him a mug of peppermint tea and he cooled it off with his breath before taking a long sip.  
“You’ve gotten a lot better at making tea. You know what would make it even better?”  
“What?” He put down his drink and reached down beside him. He pulled out a red bag of chocolates and excitedly handed it to me.  
“When you told me you still hadn’t tried maltesers I wanted to get you some and see your reaction. Drop some in your coffee and let them melt as well, it’s delicious.”  
“Aw Stu, you’re so cute. Thank you” I opened the bag and plopped three into my drink. As I waited for them to melt Stu grabbed one and put a hand under my chin.  
“What’re are you doing?”  
“I thought it would be romantic if I fed one to you.” I giggled and blushed, opening my mouth slightly. He put the malteser between his lips and kissed me, pushing the chocolate ball into my mouth. Once the chocolate melted away, a biscuit centred was revealed that dissolved almost instantly. The flavours lingered in my mouth, the sweetest made my mouth water.  
“They’re good!” I went to grab some more and he snatched the bag away, holding it high above my head.  
“Hold on! Let’s start the movie first.” He grabbed the remote and turned hit play. I didn’t know what it was, but it seemed like some raunchy action movie from the opening credits alone. He offered the bag to me and I grabbed a handful, happily eating them as Stu put an arm around me. I drank some of my coffee, surprised at the taste. Oh yeah, the maltesers were in there. I put a couple more in and finished it in seconds which was unlike me. It was too good for me to put down once I started.  
The opening credits finally ended and the movie opened on a shot of the ocean. It pushed into the scene where a submarine was shown, some moaning sounds echoing out. It did one more push and when the scene cut to inside the submarine, it showed a man and woman having sex.  
“What the fuck?” I stirred in my seat. As we watched the dragged out sequence of ‘passionate’ sex, I couldn’t help but recall when we ourselves had had sex in our own submarine. This was strange. Did he do this intentionally or was this some weird cosmic coincidence? Either way, remembering our first time being intimate made my body flush.  
“- Sir! Torpedos are heading our way! What do we do?!  
\- Is that all? Keep the bed warm Abby, this won’t take long.” God the dialogue made me cringe. This was a dumb movie, why would Stu want to watch this? Unless he chose a movie just for background noise. 

Twenty minutes in and another sex scene started. Despite the poor quality of the plot, acting and dialogue, the sex scene admittedly got me a little worked up. I moved my hand to Stu’s thigh and squeezed it. He jumped and shuffled awkwardly. I moved my hand over further and rubbed his dick through his pants. It became hard in seconds. I unzipped it and pulled his dick out through the opening, beginning to stroke it slowly. He moved his hand to my pants and pushed on my underwear, pressing on my clit and moved his finger around on it. He moved my underwear to the side and caressed the edges of my labia before inserting a finger. We were beginning to get restless, our breathing growing heavier. Fuck. I went under the blanket and kissed the shaft of his cock. I moved down and sucked on his balls, jerking him faster. He sucked his fingers and pushed them back in, fingering me faster the more aroused he got.  
I moaned as I put his cock in my mouth. I rapidly moved my head down to the base and all the way back to the tip. He moaned louder, putting a hand on the back of my head and weakly pushed down.  
“O-Oz” he lifted up my legs and laid down, putting his head between my legs, which made the blanket slide onto the floor. He put three fingers inside me and began to roughly finger me, sucking on my clit as well. I moaned, tightly jerking him and rubbing the head. He put a hand on my lower back to hold me in place as he fingered me faster and harder. My toes curled and I lost my breath. The better I felt the better I wanted to make him feel. I shuffled his pants down to his knees. I sucked my fingers and then teased his asshole, slowly inserting my fingers while teasing his knob with the tip of my tongue.  
“A-Ah Ozzie!” He fell back, panting and moaning as I fingered and blew him simultaneously. He sat up and grabbed the sides of my head, thrusting deep down my throat. His cock spasmed as he came. I quickly sat up and coughed, his cum sliding down my chin and onto my shirt.  
“That won’t stain will it?” He shrugged, just as clueless as I was. “I hope not, I really like this shirt.” 

To avoid any more potential stains, we stripped all of out clothes off. Stu sat on the lounge, stroking his cock and holding it upright for me. I crouched over him and lined it up, slowly lowering myself onto it. I put my arms around his shoulders and leaned forward to kiss him, moving up and down slowly at first until I got used to having him inside me. He kissed me passionately, holding onto my back as I started to move more wildly. My vagina was hot and sopping wet, I craved his dick to stir up my insides. I felt him growing more erect, encouraging me to move faster. I slammed down my ass and gyrated my hips before moving up and down again, repeating this a few times until I squeezed out a satisfying moan from him. I loved when he got flustered during sex. His breath was hot and intoxicatingly filled my mouth, my mind going blank and only being able to focus on his body. I caressed his stomach, stopping for a moment to suck on his nipple while pinching the other. I knew how much he liked when I touched his body, so whenever we had sex I made sure to give attention to every part of it. His nipples turned stiff and I gently bit down on one, moving my hips as I did so. He covered his face as his moaning became more unhinged.  
“C-come o-on Oz — I-I just came g-go easy on me!”  
“No way! You’re too hot when you get worked up, you just have to keep up with me” I teased. I might’ve pushed my luck too far. Stu changed his attitude, picking me up and slamming me down onto the lounge. He grabbed my hair and pulled my head back, fucking me hard. I braced myself on the lounge arm, smiling as I moaned involuntarily. He fucked me with such force that my whole body was being pushed and pulled at his every whim. My legs were too weak for me to move, I couldn’t hold myself in place to prevent being moved around. I felt my body preparing to climax. A large build of fluid came gushing out, and I screamed out Stu’s name. My body twitched from the intensity, but even then Stu didn’t slow down. I had become so sensitive as a result, and with his rough handling of me it didn’t take me long until I came again. 

He laid down on the lounge and I laid on top of him, he pushed his way back inside me and locked my arms to my side as he roughly fucked me. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t stop myself from making lewd noises. His face was concentrated and serious, and his tongue poked out of his mouth as he panted. I rested my head on his chest. My body had transformed into an overflowing well of pleasure. I could hear the squelching of his cock penetrating my vagina, a bit self conscious on how wet I was. I needed to rub my clit, but my arms didn’t budge. It was tormenting to not be able to release some of the built up pleasure, but it did make the action of him fucking me feel all the more better. Something I never expected to feel so good was his balls slapping my exposed asshole. It was embarrassing to admit even to myself.  
He abruptly stopped. He pulled out his cock and pushed me down onto my back. He kissed me as he stroked his cock, climaxing between kisses. He sprayed his cum onto my stomach, milking out every drop. I moved down on the lounge and grabbed him, eagerly sucking his dick as he twitched from sensitivity. I fit the whole thing in my mouth, sucking hard and using my tongue to lick the shaft as I moved my mouth. I rubbed my clit, sucking him faster as I felt myself approaching another climax. As I came again, I jerked him off, leaning back and breathily orgasming. I let go and laid on the lounge, too sensitive to move a muscle. Stu went on his knees and spread up my vagina with his fingers.  
“You made such a mess down here, someone should really clean this up.” He poked my clit with the tip of his tongue, mocking me as I squirmed with every touch. He smirked before putting his head down and eating me out, his tongue licking every inch inside and out. His slurping noises always made me feel to shy to look at him, but he looked so in control and confident that it made me somehow find him even more attractive. He rubbed my clit gently, licking inside of me and moving his tongue around teasingly.  
“S-Stu!” At times it still felt surreal that I was with him, and that he was currently eating me out. There were moments when we spent time together that I became too afraid to fall asleep afterwards; fearing that when I closed my eyes and reopened them I would be back alone in my old apartment before I met him.  
When he finished, he laid down next to me and kissed my cheek, caressing my face before lovingly kissing my lips. I pressed my forehead against his and closed my eyes, trying to control my emotions and thoughts.  
“I love you Stu.”  
“I love you too Oz.” Please let this be real. 

The movie was practically over by the time we finished, so we decided to take a shower together before trying to actually watch a movie.  
“I’m gonna go heat up the shower okay love? Don’t be too long.” He kissed the top of my head and went to the bathroom. I grabbed our clothes to put in the wash when Stu’s pants buzzed. I dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, thankful that whoever called had called in time to avoid me destroying his phone. Without thinking I answered the call, but before I could say anything I heard Murdoc’s voice.  
“Oh good you finally decided to answer my calls. Look uh, I know we didn’t exactly leave things on a positive note the last time we saw each other but uh... well I polished up the music we recorded with Noodle- the cyborg one- and the album will be launched soon. The label is throwing a small launch party of sorts and it would be cool if you and that uh maid, I think it was, came along. I heard you two are pretty inseparable nowadays. Welp, I’ll stop chewing your ear off. Noodle- the real Noodle- will tell you the details when she gets back home. Hope to see you there..” he hung up. I put the wash on and went to the bathroom. Stu opened the door and I stepped in.  
“What’s wrong?”  
“Murdoc just called you. I didn’t mean to answer his calls I wasn’t thinking I’m sorry.” There was a pregnant pause before he said anything.  
“What did he want?”  
“He said something about music you recorded with cyborg Noodle being launched as an album soon. The record label is throwing a launch party for it and he wanted you to go and even offered for me to come along. Though he still called me a maid, does he not know we’re dating?” He sighed, squirting some body wash onto a sponge and washed my back. When he handed the sponge to me and turned around, he seemed to shudder.  
“We should go.”  
“Are you sure you’re ready for that?”  
“As much as he put me through I still consider him a friend. Is that bad? I kinda miss the life we got to live because of our success. We managed to have a lot of fun and travelling the world and meeting all these great people; I don’t want to give that up forever.” I wondered where I could fit in with his exciting life. His level of celebrity meant there were thousands of people who would kill to be dating him — all those options to choose from would he really still pick me? I couldn’t think so selfishly. It was a big step for him to even talk about meeting up with Murdoc again. I didn’t want to ruin this for him.  
“You should do what makes you happy, and you won’t have to face him alone. I’ll be right by your side the whole time.” He reached back, searching for my hand. I grabbed it and he squeezed it tightly, his hand trembling.  
After our shower I threw on one of Stu’s shirts and a pair of shorts. As we went back to the lounge to settle in for the afternoon, the front door bursted open, Noodle rushed in and sat on the coffee table in front of us.  
“So apparently there’s a new Gorillaz album being released tomorrow or next week, and Murdoc invited us to the launch party. Did you guys wanna go?”  
“When is it?”  
“Tonight.”  
“Tonight?!” We yelled in synch. Lucky we took that shower then.  
“What time does it start?” Noodle looked at her phone and sucked her teeth.  
“It starts at 9pm so we have about six and a half hours. The drive is about thirty minutes so don’t take longer than six hours to get ready and we should be fine.”  
“What’s the dress attire?”  
“I don’t know, just dress for a party don’t stress about it too much.” Easy for her to say. I had never been to anything like it before, and she grew up around it. She left for her room when she stopped and turned back to us. “Also you should crack a window in here, it smells weird in here.” Stu and I exchanged awkward glances, both of us getting up and opening as many windows as we could. Maybe we should’ve washed the blanket too.  
“Well we still have time to watch a movie,” he sat down and patted the seat next to him. I curled up beside him and he shoved a red bag in my face as I started browsing through our movie options. “Malteser?” I opened my mouth and he popped a couple in, greedily stuffing a fistful into his mouth. Once the movie was decided, I hit play and rested my head on his lap. Insecure thoughts swirled in my mind as I dreaded the approaching party. 

————————

When we pulled up aside the building I was intimidated by the scale of it. I didn’t expect it to be held at what looked like a mansion. Noodle texted on her phone, and when she got a reply the heavy iron gates spontaneously flung open. A man dressed like a bellboy came out and tapped on my window. I rolled it down and he cooly leaned on it, pointing out where we had to go to park our car. He waved us off and talked into a radio, the gates closing behind him. My stomach twisted into knots as dozens of affluent people got out of their cars and headed into the building.  
“I’m going to go find Russel, I’ll see you guys in there.” Noodle jumped out the car and excitedly ran off, taking the time to turn around wave to us, flashing a sweet smile. I turned off the car and put the keys into my bag. I was beginning to realise how underdressed I was.  
“Are you ready? I asked. Stu nodded, but I could tell how freaked out he was. We got out the car and I held his hand. “We face this together, okay?” He nodded, adjusting his shirt collar and stiffly walking to the entrance.  
“Oh my god is that 2D?”  
“He’s even more attractive in person!”  
“Look it’s 2D! Who the hell is he with? His sister or something?”  
“I thought he was single, I was going to make a move on him tonight.”  
“I’m still going to make a move, he’s a celebrity they don’t have real relationships.”  
“He’s way out of their league.” A bombardment of judgmental whispers filled the room the minute we stepped foot inside. Stu was too busy looking around for Murdoc to take any notice of it. With the room becoming increasingly crowded, people bumped past me and I became separated from Stu. I tried not to freak out as I pushed through the crowd, looking for him. I stumbled in front of a large pair of doors with music blaring through them. I went to open them, figuring that was where the party was, when a large man stepped in front of me.  
“Woah, we need your name and a piece of ID before you get in there.”  
“Oh, sorry.. I came with Stu Pot, my name is Ozzie I should be his plus one.”  
“Stu Pot? Are you mocking me?”  
“No! Fuck, Stu is 2D. Ya know, the singer from Gorillaz.” It was difficult to talk over the music and lively chatter. I deduced that most of these people out here weren’t real guests for the party but rather desperate onlookers waiting for their opportunity to meet the band. The man looked at a clipboard and frowned.  
“2D just went in there with someone.” Just as my heart sank, someone put their hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. I looked up and felt immense relief to see Stu.  
“Sorry Oz, I got swarmed back there. Let’s get out of here okay? Hi, I’m 2D! I’m from Gorillaz.”  
“Of course, I know who you are. No hard feelings to you kid, lots of people try that lie to get in. Was just doing my job to get you to leave.” He tied wristbands around our wrists and ushered us inside. The atmosphere was intense. Lights were flashing, the smell of alcohol decimated the air, and the music was so loud I could just barely hear Stu and the security guy talking beside me. He led us to a ‘V.I.P’ area and stood guard in front of it, leaving us on our own from this point forward. I looked at my wristband and saw it was labelled “2D Gorillaz +1”. I wish I could be more excited, but I was already overstimulated and needed to get fresh air. However I stayed strong for Stu.  
Murdoc’s croaky laugh echoed through the hall. Stu skidded to a halt, his hand sweating profusely.  
“If you need to stop we can sit here for a few minutes until we’re ready.” He nodded, sitting down on the ground. I went to sit beside him when he pulled me into his lap, burying his face into the sleeve of my dress. I felt I could breathe again. I rested my head on top of his and cradled him in my arms.  
“Hey, what’re you guys doing out here?” We looked up and saw Russel, still abnormally tall but no longer a literal giant. Noodles was sitting on his shoulder, grinning mischievously.  
“Party’s this way lovebirds.”

When we entered the room, a few artists who had collaborated with them on the upcoming album were there, along with a throne surrounded by women. At the centre of it, unsurprisingly, was Murdoc. The four of us walked over to him together. When he saw Stu he got to his feet and held out his arms, a cigar and bottle of liquor in either hand.  
“Ah, 2D! The man of the hour! You made it.” He stepped down, taking a long drag of his cigar and tossing it aside. “Long time no see! And who is this fine woman you brought along? Quite a catch, glad you upgraded from trying to shag the help.” Stu cleared his throat and irritably stepped away from him.  
“This is Ozzie Murdoc. You’ve met them loads of times before. How much have you had to drink already? Your breath reeks.” He chuckled, putting an arm around him and taking a swig from the bottle before tossing it behind him. It shattered on the ground and someone dressed similarly to the man from the gate immediately rushed over and swept up the broken glass.  
“C’mon 2D, where’s your party spirit? Why don’t you run along and get some drinks for us. I wanna chat to your lady friend.” Murdoc grabbed me by the arm and walked me further back until we were out of earshot from everyone else. He opened a room where a giant heart shaped bed was covered in rose petals and rose scented candles lined the room. I began to feel panicked. What the fuck was he planning? He closed the door behind us and sat down on the bed and ushered for me to join him.  
“I’m fine standing, thanks.” He put his hands up defensively and laughed. “What do you want?”  
“Wanna cut right to the chase, aye? Fine. You fucked up a lot of things for me. You took 2D away from Plastic Beach when I spent years putting everything together for the return of Gorillaz. You messed with his head and made him think he’s in love. Is it money you want? Fame? Baby I could give you anything you could’ve ever wanted right here, right now. Just promise to leave Stu alone and it’s yours.” I was appalled. To insinuate that what I did was wrong was outrageous. If I hadn’t left with him he could’ve died during that battle or held captive under Murdoc for even longer. My body burned with rage and words failed me. I gritted my teeth and stuck my ground, not wanting to waver under him.  
“You’re drunk. You never thought about Stu’s well-being you’ve only ever wanted to use him for his talent for your own gain.”  
“I admire you for your honesty, but I care for 2D, he’s my friend! Without me he wouldn’t have been able to share his gift with the world, or recognised for it the way he was meant to. Any girl who has tried to get close to Stu was only ever trying to get to me. The poor kid can be so oblivious at times, but I can’t blame him. All those hot pieces of ass really make your common sense fly out the window.” I felt sick. I was holding back tears and backed up to the door.  
“Well I’m not like that at all. I’m not a girl, I’m not interested in you and I never will be.” The door opened behind me. I fell onto my back, knocking my head on the tiled flooring. Stu stood over me, holding three drinks in hand.  
“Oz? What were you doing in h-“ he looked up, seeing Murdoc splayed out on the bed somehow already changed into his underwear. I jumped to my feet and hid behind Stu, my legs shaking and unable to contain my tears.  
“Oh 2D, what unfortunate timing. Your little friend took me back here and tried to have sex with me. You really know how to pick ‘em, huh?”  
“Then why are you the one naked?” He shrugged smugly, picking up his clothes and getting redressed.  
“I’m not going to say no to sex with such an attractive woman.”  
“Get out.”  
“What was that?” Stu dropped the drinks, storming forward and grabbing Murdoc’s shirt. Murdoc’s face dropped as Stu raised his fist and punched him across the face.  
“Get out of here! You can’t get away with acting like this anymore! Go clean up your act or this will be the last time all of Gorillaz are together in one place.” He shoved him towards the door, Murdoc scurrying out with a fearful look in his eyes. He doubled back and hid behind the door, peeking in at him.  
“This is awkward but I’m planning to use this room later and I would appreciate if you didn’t mess it up too much.”  
“Seriously? That’s all you have to say?” I stepped into the room and slammed the door in his face and locked it. Stu crumpled onto the bed, rubbing his eyes. I joined him. I wanted to console him but I wasn’t sure how he felt about me. With his ex sleeping with Murdoc, I understood why he might not trust me right now, but I didn’t want him to think I’d ever hurt him like that. I touched his arm and lifted his head so I could see his face.  
“Stu, I’m so sorry that happened. I swear I didn’t do anything with him we were only in here a minute before you got here and I have no idea how he got undressed so quickly.” He looked into my eyes and out his hand over mine.  
“I know you aren’t like that Ozzie, I just can’t believe Murdoc tried it on you. Why can’t he let me be happy?”  
“If you have no one else it makes it easier for him to control your life. Maybe tonight was too soon.”  
“No. It wasn’t soon enough, because now I know for sure that he hasn’t changed. I’m not going to let him treat me like dirt anymore. If he wants to keep Gorillaz together or repair our friendship he really needs to get his shit together. Until then I think I’m going to keep my distance.” I looked around the room and got an idea to make us both feel better.  
“Hey hon, I know it won’t fix anything buuuuut did you want to maybe have a bit of fun at Murdoc’s expense?” He raised an eyebrow but seemed interested. “Let’s trash the fuck out of this room.”

We went around the room smashing candles on the floor and ripping up bouquets of roses. There was a small array of chocolates and wine and, not wanting them to go to waste, we ate as much as we could and shared the bottle of wine. When it was empty we smashed it against the wall and flipped the table to the ground. Stu grabbed the corkscrew we used to open the wine and ripped up the heart shaped cushions on the bed. Feathers exploded into the air and cascaded down around me. The simulated snow felt magical and momentarily I forgot about everything bad that had ever happened to us. I went onto the bed and began to kiss him, the feathers delicately raining down around us and tickling our skin.  
“Think we did enough?” He rubbed his hand on the bed and exaggerated a thinking gesture.  
“You know, I don’t think we messed up the bed enough.” He stood up and held out his hand. I took it and we began to jump around together. Each time we jumped, feathers were sent spiralling through the air around us, and time seemed to slow down. Right now, we were the only two people in the world. He spun me around playfully and jumped with extra force. My legs gave way and I fell back onto the bed, one last plume of feathers rocketed up and slowly fell around me. Stu landed beside me, leaning over me as we shared a genuine moment of joy and fun. He plucked a feather off my nose and started kissing me. When he pulled back, he smiled down at me. I reached up and cupped his face in my hand.  
“How’s it looking now? Satisfied?” He pursed his lips and looked around.  
“You know, I think the bed is still too tidy.”  
“What do you suggest we do to it?”  
“Oh I have an idea how to really get it messy, if you’re down for it.” He raised an eyebrow and grinned. I kissed him and nodded and he moved down to the bottom of my dress, lifting the hem and stripping me of my underwear. He gently kissed my inner thigh, working his way down to my vagina. He reached up and grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers as he gently licked my vagina and clit. He was so gentle and loving that I melted at every touch. Stu had been rather dominate in sex minus our first time together, but this time felt different. It felt he was pouring all of his love into every action he made. Gentle kisses mixed with slow rhythmic flicks of his tongue, I was in pure bliss. I squeezed his hand tighter and sunk back further into the bed, intoxicated with the touch of his tongue on my vagina. He gently sucked on my labia and clit and pulled them with his teeth. I looked down at him just as he was looking up at me, he smirked as he watched me react to him, sloppily sucking me and prodding me with his tongue. He sat up on his knees and undid his zipper, pulling his cock out through the gap. He gently rubbed it over my clit before slowly pushing it inside of me. I moaned happily and he laid over me, kissing me as he slowly began to move his hips. Every push of his tongue into my mouth was perfectly timed with every thrust inside of me. This wasn’t just sex between two people, this is what people referred to when they said ‘making love’.  
He sucked on my neck and spaced out his movements more, but thrusted harder to hit me as deep as he could reach. Concentrated joy and love filled my heart and soul. I loved this man more than anyone else. I loved him and never wanted to lose him. Our souls felt bonded along with our bodies, and he kissed me deeply, taking my breath away. He was truly savouring every second, as was I, but it made me think of something I hadn’t considered before; this was the real Stu. This was this man stripped down to his soul. When he was rough, it was exciting but that wasn’t him. He feared this whole time Murdoc would steal me away as he did with his ex. He gave me what he thought I would want — what Murdoc gives during sex; but this felt special, more intimate, filled with love and admiration that felt lacking after our first time. I had proven to him that I didn’t want Murdoc, I only wanted him. This was truly Stu. And I loved it. 

He carefully moved my dress off my arms and down to my waist. His mouth explored my body like it was the first time he’d seen it. He made his way to my breasts and gently massaged them, his fingers twisted my nipples until they were hard. He put his mouth on my breast and used his tongue to massage my nipple while squeezing the other. He rocked gently as he moved his cock around inside me, gently thrusting a few times before slowly moving around again. I pulled his face up to mine and kissed him, my laboured breaths interrupting for short intervals whenever he moved out and back in. He couldn’t contain his smile as I kissed him. I wrapped my hands around his neck and pulled his top half on top of me. I needed his touch everywhere; I needed to be able to kiss him harder. His hands were either side of my shoulders and he began to move a little faster. I wrapped my legs around his ass and pulled him deeper into me. I couldn’t get enough of him, it was like an addiction and I continuously wanted more of him. He moaned into my mouth, breaking free of my hold and pulling out of me. He jerked himself and I expected him to ejaculate, but instead he picked my legs up off the bed and put them over his shoulders. I gripped onto the blanket and he began to kiss just above my clit before eating me out again.  
“Ah Stu—Ah mmh ah-hah it feels good-“ My praise made him move faster. He carefully reached a hand to my mouth and traced the rim of my mouth. I put his finger in my mouth and sucked it seductively, his dick poking my back as it grew. He pulled his finger away and played around with my vagina with the tip before moving it all the way in. He moved his hand as fast as he could go without dropping my leg, which was juxtaposed to the light strokes of his tongue.  
He put me back down on the bed and slid his dick inside of me again. I clenched tightly around his shaft as he moved. He leaned down and began to kiss me, rubbing my clit as he moved his hips harder.  
Time drifted by, each sweet second added to the intense climax that had been slowly building. I felt it coming, but I didn’t want this to end. I grabbed his shirt and squealed into his ear as I ejaculated harder than I ever had before. I squirted all over his pants and onto the bed, and I shook violently as it came gushing out of me.  
“Fuck...” Stu moaned in my ear, pulling out his dick and rapidly stroking it. I sat up and sucked on it, looking up at him as I did. His flustered face was just as sexy as ever. He flinched and pushed my head back, moving his hand faster and coming over the bedsheets. He fell on top of me and we panted as we regained control of our breath. I licked my lips, the taste of his cock lingered on them. I moved my head and found his lips, kissing him as my body clung to him.  
“I love you — I love you Ozzie.” He managed to get out as I continued to kiss him. I didn’t want these feelings to stop. I wanted more, but before we got the chance the door clicked open.  
“I’m so sorry Mr Niccals, we’ll leave the key with you.” Murdoc grumbled under his breath, an entourage of women pathetically hanging off his arms. One woman noticed us and let out a surprised shriek. When Murdoc saw us his arms limply swung down, and he dropped the key.  
“Is 2D having sex during a party?! Ugh if I knew he was into that kind of thing I would’ve sought him out before this lucky bitch got to him.”  
“Oi! Turn around! Let us see your cock!” Stu quickly made himself decent before helping me fix my dress.  
“Let’s go!” He grabbed my hand and we ran out the room, I flipped off Murdoc and stuck out my tongue. He deserved way worse for everything, but this was a fun alternative that was more align with our morals. 

As we ran hand in hand, Stu and I laughed until it was painful. We bumped into Russel and Noodle, falling to the ground. Noodle scoffed and jumped off his shoulder and walked away.  
“Did we upset her?”  
“Have you two guys been fucking?” I puffed out my cheeks and looked at Stu, who was nervously stammering away as he struggled to string together a cohesive sentence. He rubbed his temples and picked us up onto our feet. “What the hell compelled you two to do that during a launch party?” I put a hand over Stu’s mouth, taking as much responsibility as I could.  
“I’m sorry Russel, it’s my fault. I suggested we trash Murdoc’s love nest after he dragged me into the room and tried to lure me into having sex with-“  
“Say no more.” He stormed off, his heavy stomps shaking the room upon impact. Noodle returned with two small napkins of finger food and gave us one each.  
“I can’t take my eyes off either of you for a second or you run off together to do something you shouldn’t.”  
“Thanks Noodle” I bit into a flaky pastry thing I didn’t recognise. It was bitter and tasted like vomit. Noodle chuckled and took it from me, tossing it into a nearby trash can.  
“Most of the food at these fancier parties taste like shit to me too.”  
“Well thanks for the gesture still.”  
Suddenly, an ear-piercing wail silenced the party. Seconds later Murdoc came running into the room, blood streaming from his nose.  
“YOU TWO—“  
“Y’know I’ll sleep at Russ’s tonight. You two might wanna go.” We weren’t going to argue with her. I grabbed Stu’s hand and we raced outside, pushing the grand doors open and fighting our way through the curious onlookers.  
“Was that just 2D?”  
“Why do you think he was running away from his own launch party?”  
“Was he running with someone?” I turned and faced the gossiping groups, sticking my tongue out and chuckling to myself as we ran away. Stu grabbed the keys from me and opened the passenger side door. I stepped in and he closed it behind me and jumped into the driver seat. My seatbelt was barely on before he started the engine and sped off towards the gate. The same man as earlier stepped out into our path, talking into his radio and tapped on Stu’s window. He lowered it and the man’s face lit up.  
“Hey, you’re 2D! Leaving so soon?”  
“It’s been complicated with Murdoc.”  
“God I know what you mean. He was a tyrant as he set this up.” The gates opened. “Hopefully I can work for you again, it’s been a pleasure meeting you!”  
“Pleasure meeting you too!” We sped off, leaving a dirt cloud behind us. 

“Where are we going?”  
“You’ll see.” I rested my head against the car window. I watched as street lamps turned into tree trunks, and asphalt roads transformed into rocky paths. The tree line parted, opening up to a large open area. A dark inky lake reflected the moon like a black mirror. Stu tapped my shoulder and handed me a thin flat rock. I grabbed it and tested my swing before skimming it across the surface. The ripples made the stars dance across the water. What a magical night this turned out to be.  
“It’s beautiful out here. How’d you know about this?”  
“It’s a popular swimming location since there’s no beaches close by. I’ve only ever come at night when I needed time alone.” He picked up another stone and examined it with his hands. He threw it out and it jumped seven times before sinking. He sat by the water’s edge, rolled up his pants and took off his shoes. He dipped his feet in and kicked the water. I joined him, taking my shoes off as well and dipped my feet in. I leaned against his shoulder, taking in the unmatched beauty of our surroundings.  
“I realised something tonight.”  
“What’s that?”  
“Back when you showed up not far from Plastic Beach, and you were there to convince me to leave instead of getting involved with Murdoc’s shit, I thought you saved me then. But after seeing you refuse Murdoc’s advances tonight and standing by me even when I wasn’t there, I felt this veil was lifted. This whole time I couldn’t let my guard down with you because I subconsciously compared you to Paula. I guess I expected you to eventually go for Murdoc and leave me. Now I know you won’t do that to me, I can really be myself around you now without being afraid of that.” Tears rolled down his cheeks, glistening like diamonds in the moonlight. I wiped them away with my thumb and he looked at me, collapsing into my arms. That exact moment of me holding him by the lame I knew it wasn’t a dream. Life was ugly at times, but it could also be just as beautiful. Our path had been a rocky one, it wasn’t close to being perfect; but we made it something beautiful whenever we were together. My dreamlike haze was wiped away that night, as was his veil of fear of being heartbroken.  
“We saved each other Stu. I’ll never hurt you, I swear on my life.” He got up and stepped into the water, holding his hand out for me.  
“Lay on your back and float, okay?” When I was steadied, he floated as well. I searched for his hand and held it.  
“I’ll hold your hand so we don’t drift apart, okay?” We drifted around, staring up at the star filled sky. A cool breeze swept over us, gently pushing us deeper out into the water. I looked over and saw him staring at me.  
“What?”  
“I wanted to remember your face when I think back to this night.” I smiled and closed my eyes, a weight lifted from my shoulders I hadn’t even realised I was carrying. We had no idea what awaited us in the future, and we had no way to change our pasts; but what we could do was determine how to spend our present, — together.


End file.
